Hendrik Pruyt (d. 1574)

Hendrik Pruyt (Spruyt), an Anabaptist martyr, was put to death in 1574 at Workum, Dutch province of Friesland. Hendrik, a bargeman of Harderwijk, Dutch province of Gelderland, was arrested by the Spanish soldiers when he passed by Workum with his boat. As the soldiers approached he said to his wife Trijntje Jans: "Dear, there comes the wolf." Hendrik was imprisoned for some time in the military office of Workum and after it had been proved clearly that he was a Mennonite he was sentenced to death without a regular trial. His death was very cruel. He was stripped, tarred, and thrown into a little boat, hands and legs bound together. When ebb tide set in, the boat was set on fire and Hendrik floated away with the stream. Half burned, his ropes loosened by the fire, he sprang into the sea; but then soldiers following him in another boat killed him with their spears. His wife managed to escape.

Braght, Thieleman J. van. The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs' Mirror of the Defenseless Christians Who Baptized Only upon Confession of Faith and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus Their Saviour . . . to the Year A.D. 1660. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1951: 1005. Available online at: http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/index.htm.